Characterization and identification of Borrelia isolates as Borrelia valaisiana in Taiwan and Kinmen Islands.

Eleven pure cultures of Borrelia from 3 species of wild rodents (Apodemus agrarius, Mus formosanus, Rattus losea) captured in Taichung, located in the center of Taiwan island, and on Kinmen Island were characterized. Five isolates showed restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of 5S-23S rRNA gene intergenic spacer sequences identical to those of strains 5MT and 10MT, identified as Borrelia valaisiana, which were isolated in the southern tip of South Korea. Although the remaining six isolates showed novel RFLP patterns, these isolates showed more similarity to members of B. valaisiana from Korea, Japan and Europe based on 16S rRNA gene and flagellin gene sequences. This led us to speculate that transmission and proliferation of this type of borrelia occurred between Taiwan and the southern part of South Korea.